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Eight hundred miles southeast of the Falklands lies ice-crowned South Georgia Island, another oceanic oasis and the best place for close-up looks at vast numbers of stately king penguins. Spectacular South Georgia is also full of history─it's where Sir Ernest Shackleton and his party landed in 1916 after completing an 800-mile voyage across the wild Southern Ocean in a 22-foot whaleboat to seek rescue for the stranded men of his ship, the Endurance─probably the single greatest feat in the history of polar exploration.

TRIP HIGHLIGHTS

• Our grandest Antarctica journey: Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Antarctic Peninsula
  
• South Georgia: spectacular mountains, home to king penguins, historical sites of Shackleton rescue
  
• Falkland Islands: nesting albatross, other species of penguins, and the cultural aspects of Port Stanley
  
• Antarctic Peninsula: stunning mountains, glaciers and icebergs, large colonies of Adélie, chinstrap and gentoo penguins, lots of seals and whales, research stations

Our voyage aboard the Akademik Ioffe features a small fleet of kayaks for paddling options (weather and ice conditions permitting).

Check out a complete deckplan of the Akademik Ioffe (PDF file) and photographs taken of ship's interior.

And please visit our Antarctica Feature to see a slideshow of photographs and stories from past our trips in Antarctica, interesting facts about the continent, and more.

Note - This trip is not an exclusive Mountain Travel Sobek departure, and is operated by The Adventure Fleet/Quark Expeditions, the most experienced company specializing in polar expedition cruising for over 15 years.

Day 1 - Meet in Ushuaia, Argentina, and board the Akademik Ioffe. Begin the journey to Antarctica through the Beagle Channel, then turn northeast toward the Falkland Islands.

Day 2 - Cruise toward the Falkland Islands, enjoying lectures, movies, and slide show presentations on what's in store for the next two weeks.

Days 3-4 - In the Falklands, visit Westpoint Island, where rockhopper penguins and blackbrowed albatross nest, Carcass Island, where Magellanic penguins burrow in the tussock grass and flightless steamer ducks and tussock birds abound, and the very British town of Port Stanley.

Days 5-7 - Sail to South Georgia, a spectacular mountainous island some 800 miles southeast of the Falklands.

Days 8-10 - Explore South Georgia, including stops at the Salisbury Plain, where colorful king penguins crowd the beaches, and the Bay of Isles, another haven for king penguins. You'll also visit Grytviken, the center of whaling operations for the world until 1965, and where Shackleton's grave lies.

Days 11-12 - Cross the Scotia Sea to the southwest. Time and weather permitting, visit the remote South Orkney Islands en route.

Days 13-16 - Explore the South Shetland Islands and continue down the Antarctic Peninsula. Our itinerary here focuses on scenic areas with large concentrations of wildlife, with possible stops at Paradise Bay or Hope Bay, where you'll see some of Antarctica's most dramatic scenery, including ever-calving glaciers and iceberg sculptures of fantastic shape and form. We also usually visit one or more research stations. (The 20-day departure spends one additional day on the Peninsula.)

Days 17-18 - Cruise across the Drake Passage, passing over the Antarctic Convergence.

Day 19 - Arrive in Ushuaia in the early morning and depart.

Photo Credits
Both images: ©C. S. Bettencourt (MTS staff)